Thursday, June 18, 2015

THURSDAY NIGHT JUNE 18TH…7:30 P.M. – HALF AN HOUR AGO WE HAD A WALLOPING SMASHER OF A STORM RACE THROUGH LIKE A THUNDERING FREIGHT TRAIN…GRABBED THESE PHOTOS WHEN THE RAIN LET UP ENOUGH FOR PHEEBS & I TO GET OUT & TAKE A FEW PICS JUST EAST OF OUR PARK ON BAYFIELD RIVER ROAD

We were up & on the road headed for London Ontario by 7:10 this morning. The Jeep Liberty towed totally fine & we had an uneventful drive. Rolled into FOREST CITY MOTORHOMES about 8:35 & unhooked the Jeep. They were expecting us & had the boxed brand spanking new replacement hydraulic valve sitting on the front desk. Leaving the Big EEE in their capable hands we took the Jeep & headed across the north end of the city reaching University Hospital by 9:15. It rained all the way from the RV dealership to the hospital but at least the rain had held off long enough for us to get the rig to the garage without getting it all slopped up.

WE MADE IT TO FORREST CITY MOTORHOMES IN GOOD TIME

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate parking garages!! My tolerance was sure tested as we drove round & round & round & round & round between the 3rd & 4th floor levels at the Hospitals north side parking garage. Had to put the Jeep's windows down to let out all the blue air. Finally Kelly hopped out when she saw someone heading for their car. Soon as they backed out she stood in the spot as circled around back in an impatient convoy of cars. As I got around to the spot Kelly was holding I thought the guy ahead of me was simply going to run her over for the spot. Kelly thought so too but held her ground. The motorist wisely moved on & I hastily backed in. Yay Kelly.

ROUND & ROUND & ROUND & ROUND & ROUND WE WENT!!!!

The hospital lobby was filled with people & the line-up for Tim Hortons coffee stretched around a corner. I was aware I was mumbling more blue air words under my breath. Bundles of people waiting for elevators, stacks of people in the elevators. More mumblings & grumblings as I tried to accept the fact I was where I was. Made our way to the 4th floor & a very crowded waiting room. Kelly checked in while I elevatored myself back down to the main floor & headed for the tail end of the Tim Horton line-up. I resigned myself to the long wait & all the people noise going on around me & my impatience began to dissipate. Finally with coffee in hand I made it back to the 4th floor waiting room where we sat quietly exchanging somewhat humorous remarks about our fellow humans coming & going. I'm sure we bore the brunt of a few people's comments when we walked in as well. It's just something we all do while people watching & passing time.

TIM HORTONS COFFEE LINE-UP

4TH FLOOR ELEVATORS…TOOK THIS PHOTO BECAUSE IT WAS SO NICE TO SEE A SPACE WITHOUT PEOPLE IN IT…KELLY WAS JUST DOWN THAT HALL TO THE LEFT

Kelly's appointment was for 10 & Dr. Levstik came for her about 10:30. A very personable man & his first words to Kelly as he shook hands was, "Hello Trouble'. How nice to have a warm personable Doctor with a sense of humor. Twenty minutes later Kelly was back out & smiling. A good report. Her latest liver biopsy confirmed the Doctor's original diagnosis of the auto-immune liver disease. As long as Kelly takes 5 artificial bile pills for the rest of her life she should be Ok. Doctor was pleased no further damage to the liver had occurred. Said instead of blood tests every 3 months she only needs tests every 6 months now. A secondary problem Kelly has been having was discussed with Doctor Levstik so we will be returning to University Hospital sometime in the next few months as soon as an appointment can be set up for a medical procedure which is needed to determine the root of that problem.

KELLY QUES UP IN THE TIM HORTON COFFEE LINE-UP JUST BEFORE WE LEFT THE HOSPITAL

HERE COMES THE COFFEE GIRL NOW

I think it was around 11:30 sometime when we left the hospital & headed back across town to Forrest City Motorhomes. Rig was done & I hooked up the Jeep while Kelly paid the bill. The HWH valve cost $229 & it only took them half an hour to install it so we caught a break with only $49.50 charged for labor. And of course sales tax to the amount of $36.21. They said the valve which had blown out was the one which controlled the main slide & not the hydraulic leveller jacks. The valve for the jacks is bigger & would have cost more. They had no idea why that particular valve had blown out like it had.

ALL FIXED UP & READY TO GO NOW LET ME SEE, HMMMMM WHICH ONE IS OURS…OH YA THE ONE ON THE RIGHT

Rains had let up & we were able to make it all the way back to Bayfield with nary a drop on the windshield. We were home, unhooked, & had the Big EEE & Libby back in their respective places well before 2 p.m. An hour later clouds departed & we had ourselves a mighty fine sunny day going on….but it didn’t last!! After today's encounter with University hospital's parking garage I think Pheebs & I will be needing some major quiet country air in the morning............Ya think:))

Over the past few weeks Pheebs & I have been out cruising around Bayfield taking photos of Bayfield homes. At last count I had over a hundred homes in my files which is way too many to throw into an album so what I’m going to do over the next while is throw 20 randomly selected homes in an album at a time. Of course this won’t be of much interest to a lot of folks but for the ones who are interested here they are. I call this first selection Bayfield Homes Part 1. Keep in mind they are all shot from the driver’s seat of the Jeep as Pheebs & I roll along the streets. It’s my way of showing you Bayfield without me standing in front of peoples homes with a camera making them totally nervous:))

WHEN YOU CLICK ON THE PHOTO ALBUM A PAGE OF PHOTOS WILL APPEAR, CLICK ON THE TOP LEFT PHOTO MAKING IT LARGER, NOW YOU CAN CHOOSE TO SEE THE PHOTOS IN A SLIDE SHOW FORMAT BY CLICKING ‘PLAY SIDE SHOW’ AT THE TOP OR VIEW THEM ONE AT TIME BY CLICKING THE ARROW AT BOTTOM

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A Texan was taking a taxi tour of London and was in a hurry. As they went by the Tower of London the cabby explained what it was and that construction started in 1346 and it was completed in 1412. The Texan replied, "Shoot, a little ol' tower like that? In Houston we'd have that thing up in two weeks!" The cab passed the House of Parliament next, the cabby stating that it started construction in 1544 and was completed 1618. "Boy, we put up a bigger one than that in Dallas and it only took a year!" As they passed Westminster Abbey the cabby was silent. "Whoa! What's that over there?" asked the Texan. "Darned if I know, wasn't there yesterday..."

Given all that could have gone wrong with that day, a busy parking garage and a coffee queue is pretty sweet :-) You even missed the rain in both directions - sounds like a pretty darn good day. Love the Bayfield homes, such pride of ownership there.

I'ts soooo wonderful to get GOOD news from a Doc (at our age, hehee). Hugs to all 3 of you..and one big wet sloppy kiss to just one of you..no, not Kelly. I love looking at photos of homes..My dream is to shed ourselves of this big whopper of a home and acre of land and downsize onto a single level house..someplace warm, small yard, nice screen room and back deck..Yeah, I hear ya..if wishes were fishes...blah blah blah...

Great news, Kelly! I'm so glad your tests turned out well. It seems like everyone has something going on lately, and as long as it can be healed, removed, or taken care of with meds, we're good to go. I used to be so proud that I wasn't taking any Rx meds, now I'm just grateful I can continue living the good life WITH my Rx's. Take good care. :)

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 8 of them and use them all. Five Nikon DSLR's, two quality Sony point and shoots plus one older Canon point and shoot.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a 'donated' Nikon D7200 sporting my new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.